Do you believe in miracles?

Do you believe in miracles?

Remember the United States Hockey team in 1980 at the winter Olympics?

At the start of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., the U.S. team was little more than an afterthought -- even in the mind of its coach.

"The Soviets had beaten us 10-3 in an exhibition a few days before the Olympics," Herb Brooks said. "They were fantastic. ... I had little hope for a medal. I would have been very happy to have achieved a fourth-place finish."

The Soviets were seeded No. 1, and deservedly so. They had won five gold medals and one bronze in the previous six Olympics. The seventh-seeded U.S. team could cling to one piece of history.

That one Soviet loss had been administered at Squaw Valley, Calif., in 1960, the last time the Olympics had been held in the United States -- when the Americans beat them in the semifinals and defeated Czechoslovakia to win the gold.

If there was an omen for the 1980 team, good or bad, it was this: Brooks, now coach of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins, was the last player cut from the 1960 squad.

The U.S. and USSR teams each won their first five games. On Feb. 22, George Washington's birthday, patriotism was running rampant in and outside the Olympic Field House.

The Soviets unleashed 30 shots in the first two periods to the United States' 10. Only one dramatic save after another by former Boston University goaltender Jim Craig kept the United States close.

When Mark Johnson scored with one second remaining in the first period to tie it at 2, Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonev replaced legendary goalie Vladislav Tretiak with Vladimir Myshkin.

"We didn't even realize (Tretiak) was out of there until the middle of the next period," center Neal Broten said. "But after that first period, we knew we could win."

The Soviets led 3-2 after two periods.

"We told ourselves we were just down one, when we'd been down six after two periods last time we played them," team member John Harrington said. "We'd played 40 minutes, they were just one ahead, but we were younger. We wanted to take it to 'em."

Johnson tied it again, this time on a power play, 8:39 into the third period. And at exactly the 10-minute mark, midway through the final period, Harrington's pass set up Mike Eruzione to become an American icon.

Eruzione, the team captain from Winthrop, Mass., and a member of the International League's Toledo Blades, took Harrington's pass from the corner, skated into the slot between the faceoff circles and unleashed a shot past a Russian defenseman and through Myshkin .

The explosion of cheers was deafening, and most of the 10,000 fans squeezed into the 8,500-seat arena began a chant of "USA! USA!" that never abated in the final 10 minutes.

As the final 10 seconds ticked away, ABC broadcaster Al Michaels gained an immortality of sorts. "Do you believe in miracles?" he shouted, and at the final buzzer he answered, "Yes!"

(Almost anticlimactically, the U.S. team won the gold medal two days later, rallying from a 2-1 deficit after two periods to beat Finland 4-2.)

"We frustrated 'em," Craig said of the Soviet team. "For the first time, I think they panicked. They skate better than anyone in the world; they pass better than anyone in the world. But in the last few minutes tonight they just threw the puck forward. And we were in a zone. Amazing!"

Do you believe in miracles?

The dictionary defines a miracle as "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs; an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment."

Some people who deny the existence of miracles think of them as happenings that would violate the laws of nature. However, what we call the "laws of nature" are only our very limited understanding of nature. If God created all of nature, which he did, then what we call "laws of nature" are only the result of our very finite study and observation.

God never has to violate any laws, because it is His universe and His unusual workings and manifestations will only be understood by, and available to, His believing followers.

The more we embrace the Living Word, and live by the written Word, the more we will experience the miracles of God.